The annual Earth Day Celebration took place on Library Walk and in the Price Center on Monday. UCSD’s Environmental Coalition sponsored the event, along with several other organizations geared toward the preservation of the environment, such as Muir Environmental Corps, CalPIRG, Ocean Awareness, Whale Day and Solar Electric.
The celebration kicked off at 10 a.m. with a talk given by Native American speaker Happy Bear. As the day progressed, the celebration’s attendants were entertained guitarist Scott Huckabay and bands The Dave and Damaru.
Jih Miesel from Whale Day also spoke to students about many issues surrounding the protection of the ocean and received much support from the crowd. The event finished off with a free showing of the Dr. Seuss film “”The Lorax”” at 9 p.m. in the Price Center Theatre.
Christine Brochard, president of UCSD’s Environmental Coalition, was pleased with the outcome of the event.
“”The main focus [of Earth Day] is to educate UCSD about the environment and create awareness,”” Brochard said. “”I think it was very successful in making people think a little bit more about issues that they weren’t aware of before.””
Students stopped to take a look at the many booths on Library Walk during the celebration.
A popular attraction was the Electric Vehicle Fair set up in front of the Career Services Center. The fair featured five models of electric vehicles, including a two-person “”neighborhood”” car, a Chrysler minivan, and a Honda Insight, a gas-electric hybrid vehicle that reportedly gets 70 miles per gallon. Some UCSD organizations had booths set up to inform students about the benefits and importance of recycling.
Brochard said that the importance of Earth Day is understanding that no one person can single-handedly save the environment, but that every little bit helps.
“”The take-home message of Earth Day is that people aren’t going to change radically, but that there are small things that everyone can do,”” Brochard said.
She enumerated five easy things everyone can do to help conserve the environment, including using reusable mugs For more information about recycling on campus, call the Recycling Center at (858) 534-0919.
